It looks like winter has already arrived for much of the U.S. But you can feel a bit better by putting things in perspective. At least it’s not -128.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the coldest temperature ever recorded by humans at ground level on this planet.
Yes, it dipped to -128.6 F (or a chilly -89.2 Celsius for the rest of the world) in Antarctica on July 21, 1983. The measurements were taken at the Vostok Station, run by Soviet scientists. But what about that time it dipped even lower a few years back?
Satellite data showed that an area of East Antarctica may have gotten even colder in 2010, dropping to -135.8 F (-94.7 C), but that temperature wasn’t confirmed by ground reports. Only temperatures measured from the ground are recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records and the World Meteorological Organization, so the 2010 record stands as an “unofficial” measurement.
Image via Getty: 1899: The departure of the ‘Southern Cross’ on the French Antarctic expedition from Tasmania
